Swollen toe!! **PICS**

Swollen toe!! **PICS**

Sheba has been on 'kennel rest' for the last two weeks due to a injury ( running through the house at breakneck speed & catching her flank on an open drawer!) she's almost better. This morning I notice that Akyra's toe is redish, so i look at it. OMG toe is swollen!! around the nail.i kinda messed with it a bit, looks like there might be puss in there. yuck. trimmed all the hair back - I can't see anything 'in' there. They're kept in a pen in the summer specifically made to keep them OUT of the freaking foxtails. so i hope it's not that. I dont know how this happened - then again I've been really focusing on Sheba.

I irrigated the area out with a watered down betadine solution. then soaked it in warm water & epsom salt to hopefully reduce the swelling & maybe fight whatever is going on down there. My reg vet is booked, so i had to call another one - i really want her seen today. Got an appt @ 3pm.

so officially August is VET month for me. the donkey got her shots - had a reaction ( hives) that was alot of stress. Sheba and Akyra had their annual the following Mon & tue - they checked out fine - negative for heartworm got their vacc's. then 11:30PM on thurs Sheba decided she wanted to go back to the vet with her open wound. the next week drain removal, week after that ( last week) stitches removed. and now this week akyra's swollen toe!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

ok here's some pics - i'm going on vacation next week so i dont really have time to find out if this is something *I* could've taken care of. nice little topping of animal stress before i go. I'm gonna miss them like crazy & naturally worry about them the whole time :(

Wow that looks really sore!We don't get foxtails here so I wouldn't know what that looks like. I think the epsom salts are a good idea and I'd continue to do that off and on till the appointment.It would really tick me off if my vet would not make time for my injured dogCould Akyra have snaged it on the cage you had her in?

Wow that looks really sore!We don't get foxtails here so I wouldn't know what that looks like. I think the epsom salts are a good idea and I'd continue to do that off and on till the appointment.It would really tick me off if my vet would not make time for my injured dogCould Akyra have snaged it on the cage you had her in?

Tena

I dont think so. its chain link. They're been in that summer cage before - they were in it last summer ( its a large dog run about 20' wide by 48';). I'm very interested to see what they're gonna say. i really hope nothing is stuck in there. foxtails are the DEVIL around here!!!

I'm going to keep soaking it. it did look less red after the first soaking. I wonder if she got bit by something. we do have weird stuff around here - recently meat bees have been flying around the back porch ( near the dog run). and we have see two 'sun spiders' in the house before. But i haven't seen them near the dog run area. I've read that they're not poisonous. but who knows, maybe one of those bit her & it's inflamed. oh god those things are gross!! if you do not like spiders, like me, do NOT google that one!!

I bout had a heart attack the last time i saw one! they're more suited for the desert so I have no clue why they're here - they're not huge thank gawd, but big enough as far as I'm concerned

Ena's toe did that, once. She "hurt" it, somehow, and licked it completely raw. We never found an injury, but she did need antibiotics, and the vet prescribed steroids that I still have in the cabinet. I kept it covered, and used topical steroids. I don't LIKE Pred, unless it's absolutely necessary.

OWIE!! I hope the vet can help ya out. I so know what it's like to be going on vacation when your pets are sick. It's bad enough leaving them add leaving a sick pet & it's even harder. Good vibes coming from me & my pack to you & yours.

OWIE!! I hope the vet can help ya out. I so know what it's like to be going on vacation when your pets are sick. It's bad enough leaving them add leaving a sick pet & it's even harder. Good vibes coming from me & my pack to you & yours.

tell me about it! i feel like big ball of stress right now - as if the vacation alone didn't make me anxious enough!!

so the vet gave her a good look over - she even found one foxtail in her ear!! after she found it I realized that when I took her to my other vet for her annual I didn't remember them checking her ears & eyes. she needs her teeth cleaned too ( already knew that from the other vet).

she couldn't say what was causing the swelling, since it is so big. we opted for antibiotics & see what happens. if i dont notice a improvement by monday i'll take her in again before my trip. after that I'll just have to set up something for when I'm gone with my house sitter. he's great with animals and will have his dog here too. I know he'll take good care of everyone & take them to the vet if need be.

akyra is doing fine though - the swelling doesn't seem to painful & even let the vet lady poke at it a bit. she said that soaking it is a good idea - just in case anything is going to drain. So I'll keep doing that. she said I didnt' have to keep it covered, but make sure it doesnt turn into an open wound - then I would need to keep it clean.

I double checked the dog run for anything dangerous. no foxtails in site ( whew!), but there was one star-thistle that came inside the fence, so maybe she poked it on that. those are painful!! I was weedwacking them last weekend and had a couple full size thistle heads stuck in my leg.oh joy!

then on top of all this my boss is freaking out cuz i'm leaving for so long - he doesn't really get along well with computers LOL.

sheba is still doing well, put a little neosporin on her scar/stitch area just in case. she's wearing the cone again cuz the first day after the stitches came out - she licked a little bit of it open. it looks alot better now that she hasn't been able to get to it for the past 4 days.

so if the antibiotics dont work, then it'll either be probing or xrays. :)

thanks for the good vibes, i feel like i need them right now!

btw the vet was very nice, it was my first time seeing her. Her staff was great too. I even chatted with the receptionist girl for awhile about my donkey. it was fun to share. seems like at the other vet office i never get to see the same vet :(

Wow that really looks nasty! Jessie used to have swollen toes occasionally but not as bad as that. She chewed her feet because of her allergies, which caused infections. Sending lots of healing vibes your way; make sure she leaves it alone. Jessie's feet would get better during the day because of treatment but would be worse again the next morning because she licked and chewed them at night when we weren't watching; I learned to put boots on her at night. You may want to cone Akyra when you can't watch her. I hope she's much better by Monday and you have a great vacation.

If it's not significantly better on Monday, ask the vet to do an aspirate of it. It's more swollen than Muffin the Intrepid's typically was, but he had a toe that would swell and at times there was almost a little yeasty discharge from near the nail -- occasionally it would look 'worse' -- but eventually we discovered it was a mast cell tumor -- literally the whole TOE was a tumor (self contained -- not a tumor in or on the toe but the entire toe itself was a tumor). I didn't find it until late because we'd treated it forever because it would swell and then get better enough not to stick out (fluffy cocker feets) and it never really bothered him badly

I didn't know such a thing could be, so I'm offering that just from my own experience. An aspirate will tell pretty fast if that's the case.

More good vibes that A's toe is better by Monday so you can go on vacation with less stress & she's not owie. I definitely do not wish that on anyone. DH & I went away with Aspen just diagnosed with pancreatitis & Maghee diagnosed with congestive heart failure.